Bighorn 100 Mental Skills
Photo courtesy of Mile 90 Photography
Several weeks ago I finished one of the countries hardest 100 mile races - the Bighorn 100 in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. The feeling I had in this race was one like no other. A lot had to do with my mindset and how I practiced it. In many ways it wasn’t pretty. It was 90 degrees during the day. There was ankle deep mud, deeper if you fell in it, and I did, putting a gash in my arm that probably could have used stitches. There was slushy snow up high. All creating a recipe to destroy your feet.
Mindset was key going into the race, in preparation and execution.
Here’s a quick run down of the mental skills that got me to the finish at the Bighorn 100:
1) Compassionate Self- Discipline: The key to running 100 miles is patience. The key to running 100 miles in 90 degree heat, slick as snot mud, torturously steep rollers is patience, and compassionate self-discipline. Not the beat your chest, suck it up butter cup self-discipline. Compassionate Self-discipline reminders to go slow, drink, eat. We’re human, we’ll forget a bit to take a sip or slug a gel, ok, get back on it. No need to beat yourself up over it - refocus drink, eat, get moving.
2) Mindfulness: Being present. Not just where your feet are but mindful of when you get hooked on unhelpful thought patterns and redirect your attention to what you need to focus on. The process.
3) Dissociation: Checking out also helps. When my tunes were playing they were really helpful and at times inspirational.
4) Association: Checking in - do I have good body posture, am I looking ahead? Have I addressed that hot spot on my foot. What’s going on in the inside and what’s going on outside - this is all part of being present. Noticing.
5) Self-Talk: Not the woo-woo stuff. Stuff that matters and has meaning. Mantra’s that YOU create that have meaning to YOU. “Let it go” (go all in) has been mine for ages - “You got this” is another one, ultimately it has to have meaning to you - it is positive something you want to do, not something you want to avoid. Prepare in advance and practice it on training runs.
6) Arousal Control: There was a moment when a guy ran past me extremely worried about the time and cut-offs. I did the math in my head knowing my pace and distance from the finish and didn’t flinch. Took a deep breath and slowed things down. Spending the extra energy worrying about it wasn’t going to help. Chasing him down would waste energy. Let the dude go. Not sure if he finished.
7) Process focused goals:: Yea - I had outcome goals - I had three of them 29:30 could have been possible in ideal conditions., 31 hours would best or equal my other Hardrock qualifiers, and finishing under the cutoff of 35 hours would be perfect and something I’d be thrilled with (as it was 55% of the field dropped out or DNF’d so being at the tail end of the finshers really has me in the top 50%. Ultimately though the process goals are what got me to the finish - drink close to a liter an hour while its hot, get 250-300 calories in an hour. Move slow while it’s hot, well below your easy pace, change your socks when you can, eat real food when you can. Use the self-talk strategies you outlined above.
8) Confidence: Four things build self-efficacy and confidence a) Mastery Experience- I’ve competed 100’s before at higher altitude and with similar vertical gain. Also, and more importantly I trained in similar environments and conditions as would be expected come race day. b) Vicarious experience- I knew people my age have raced this and I know people that I’ve run with have finished this race. c) Self-talk - see above comments. d) Physiological and Emotional state - see arousal control.
This list isn’t all inclusive but gives you an idea of what mental preparation goes into a hundred mile race. The key here is not just know these things but to practice them during training so come race day the come naturally. If you’re interested in learning more feel free to reach out to me using the link below.
Thanks for taking the time to read this!